WAPO OP ED: 'Deaths of Despair' soared in Trump country. It may be getting worse.

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/23/deaths-despair-soared-trump-country-it-may-be-getting-worse/?hpid=hp_save-opinions-float-right-4-0_opinion-card-a-right%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

‘Deaths of Despair’ soared in Trump country. It may be getting worse.
Opinion by Greg Sargent Columnist July 23, 2020 at 5:10 p.m. EDT

(This has real scientific poll data showing quality of life has severely suffered for magatland)

A big reason President Trump prevailed in 2016 was his massive margins in what are called the “Middle Suburbs,” largely blue-collar counties heavily concentrated in the industrial Midwest. Trump won those areas by 13 points — a key reason he flipped Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Deaths of Despair are deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide, which are thought to be partly rooted in a social cause, such as the collapse of working-class life prospects and/or community life.

So Deaths of Despair did soar in regions where Trump won big. But that hasn’t abated through 2018, complicating Trump’s reelection case. With the coronavirus, that is surely getting worse.

Sargent: If Trump is already losing those Urban Suburban types by large margins, and he’s also struggling among these Middle Suburban people who aren’t even in that basket, that seems like double trouble for him.
Chinni: He needs these people. It’s going to be a tough place to make a compelling argument that things are appreciably better than they were four years ago.